Game 19 - AE Playoffs	#8 NJIT (7-11, 6-10 America East) vs. #5 Albany (6-8, 6-6 America East)
Date | Time	Saturday, February 27, 2021 | 5pm
Location | Arena	West Hartford, CT (Chase Center)
Live Video	ESPN+
Live Stats	In-game statistics
All-time series	Albany leads 7-0
Game Notes	NJIT Notes (PDF) | UA Notes

Newark, NJ - The NJIT men's basketball game will take part in its first ever America East Conference tournament beginning this weekend in West Hartford, CT. The Highlanders are the eight seed and will take on fifth-seeded Albany in a pod hosted by #4 Hartford.

The winner of the NJIT-Albany game (5pm Saturday) will take on the winner of the Hartford-Binghamton contest (2pm Saturday) at 3pm on Sunday at Hartford with a spot in the America East semifinals on the line. 

Last Time Out
The NJIT men's basketball team dropped its regular season finale 72-58 to visiting Binghamton on Sunday in America East action at the Wellness and Events Center. 

NJIT wraps up the 2020-21 regular season with a 7-11 overall record and 6-10 mark in America East play, while Binghamton finished the season with a 4-13 record, including 4-10 in league action. The Highlanders will be the eighth seed for the Hercules Tire America East Championships and will play fifth seeded Albany in their opening game Saturday in West Hartford, CT.

Binghamton shot greater than 50 percent for the second-consecutive day to earn the series sweep against NJIT, which shot just 34.5% on Sunday, including 14.9% from three-point range. 

Get to Know the Great Danes
Albany, which was picked fourth of 10 teams in the America East Preseason Coaches Poll, finished as the five seed with a 6-6 AE record and 6-8 overall mark.

Since sweeping NJIT in mid-January, the Great Danes split AE series with UNH, UMass Lowell and, most recently, Stony Brook. Albany lost the first game in each of those series, but bounced make to win game two. 

The Great Danes' leading scoring is CJ Kelly (13.6 ppg), while Second Team All-Conference player Antonino Rizzuto (13.4 ppg) and Kellon Taylor (10.1 ppg) are also averaging double figures. 

Taylor is also the squad's leading rebounder, pulling down 6.0 rpg.

All-Time Series
Saturday's meeting with Albany will be the eighth all-time, with the first seven being won by the Great Danes. The first five came as non-conference foes, while the last two took place in January with Albany sweeping a home series.

Albany is the only America East opponent NJIT has never defeated.

Last Three Meetings:
1/16/21: Albany 83, NJIT 75 -- Albany, NY
1/17/21: Albany 83, NJIT 71 -- Albany, NY
11/27/15: Albany 74, NJIT 73 -- Albany, NY

Postseason Honors
The America East announced its postseason award winners on Thursday and NJIT had a pair of representatives. Zach Cooks was named Third Team All-Conference and Mekhi Gray was named to the All-Rookie Team.

STUDENT-Athletes
Despite the issues they've faced due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the NJIT men's basketball team posted a 3.42 GPA during the fall semester. Nine out of 13 Highlanders earned GPAs of at least 3.33, as Zach Cooks, Souleymane Diakite, and Dylan O'Hearn each paced the team with perfect 4.0 GPAs.

SPLITSVILLE
The Highlanders have split six of their eight America East series thus fall, with the only exception being a two-game series sweep by Albany. NJIT is 5-3 in game one, and 1-7 in game two.

Up Next
The winner of Saturday's game between NJIT and Albany will return to the Chase Center to play again on Sunday against the winner of #4 Hartford vs. #9 Binghamton